Monday, July 25, 2005

Canadian waterheads on parade: the Rondi Adamson edition.

Courtesy of Mme. Z, I've just today discovered the eye-opening wingnuttery of one Rondi Adamson. It's hard to believe anyone could actually make Rachel Marsden seem sane but, what the hell, there you have it.

But the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and elsewhere, are not defendants, or political dissidents. They are captured enemy combatants. It is not illegal to detain them until the conflict is over, according to the rules of war.

It's sad when someone just doesn't get the memo with the talking points. In the first place, the Bush administration is careful to always refer to Gitmo detainees as "illegal" enemy combatants, thereby depriving them of any and all rights under the Geneva conventions. 'Cuz you see, if they were just regular enemy combatants, well, then, they'd have all these rights and you just can't have that. But that's not all.

Adamson then shoots herself squarely in her argument by stating (correctly, it turns out) that, according to the rules of war, the detainees can be held until the conflict is over. Why, yes, Rondi, sweetie, that's right. And where exactly does that rule come from? Why, the Geneva Conventions -- the very set of rules that Adamson apparently just refused to acknowledge. You know, the rules that kind of say that detainees should be treated humanely and, well, not tortured or beaten to death. Right. Those rules. But wait. We're not done here.

Adamson (correctly, as I've already admitted) states that enemy combatants can be detained "until the conflict is over." Why, yes, at which point:

Prisoners of war shall be released and repatriated without delay after the cessation of active hostilities. [Emphasis added.]

Yeah, that's kind of an important qualifier, isn't it? So when exactly does this "War on Terror" officially end? That's a trick question, of course. It doesn't. A "War on Terror" is as meaningful (or, in this case, meaningless) as, say, a "War on Drugs." It never ends, which means Gitmo detainees could potentially spend the rest of their lives behind razor wire, all according to "The Rules."

2 comments:

Whooee! That there RondiGal is up there with the likes o' Rachel Marsden an' Annie Coulter. An' that ain't a good thing, sez I.

Yer right as rain 'bout the War on Terror bein' a never-endin' battle fer truth, justice an' the American way. Leastwise, 'bout the "never-endin' " part. Them Mewrkins is always declarin' never-endin' wars like the War on Poverty an' the War on Drugs. I declared War on Squirrels awhile back an' I won a battle or two but there ain't gonna be an end t' that war, neither.